1. Technical Field
This invention relates to an online shopping system and method for use offline, and apparatuses applied to the same and, more particularly the conversion of online shopping to offline shopping through a communications network such as the Internet to create a new shopping concept based on using the combined advantages of online and offline environments such as that of online price competitiveness and offline customer relationships.
2. Description of Related Art
As a result of developments in information technology leading to diversified communications methods, offline shopping has transitioned from catalog sales to cable TV shopping and Internet-based online shopping, while the explosive growth of Internet users has marked the trend of extreme growth in online shopping where its foundation lay in electronic commerce systems and wired/wireless communications technologies.
Particularly, online shopping, which provides diversified product information and contents to users, has shown rapid growth by changing the shape of shopping in offline environments.
Generally, in an Internet-based shopping service, the provider of the service often films a video related to a product, then converts it to a file format to be uploaded to a database, and offers the video on the provider's web server for online users to watch.
However, the aforesaid online shopping services can only be provided by the provider, and thus have the disadvantage of limiting users from browsing selected products in more detail, while users can only retrieve information posted by the provider.
As a result of this practice, users tend to prefer offline purchases even despite paying higher prices.
Therefore, a new shopping concept is necessary and crucial at this time in order to satisfy the needs of these users who are the consumers.